The DREAMers

So Im back after being super busy, hopefully I can keep at this once a week for the foreseeable future, but Im not making any promises.  I have some good things to write about, but today Im writing on the fly after working 9 hours between two jobs (landscaping and cooking) on less than 2 hours of sleep.  So I hope y'all can forgive me if Im not very eloquent.  Anywho, here goes:

Today President Obama gave a speech on the Dream act and why he is for it.  I've seen my Facebook feed light up with comments about how hes just trying to fire up his base and get votes with this.  Well of course he is, that why politicians do almost everything they do in the public eye.  But I think that Obama is also right when he says that this is the right thing to do.  There are problems with it, it apparently is very easy to get away with saying you meet the requirements on how long you have been in the US and at what age you got here, and Ive heard some concerns on how this will hinder prosecution and deportation of gang members and cartel traffickers, and if thats the case then those issues should be addressed.  It doesn't seem like you could say with confidence that this will be true of a significant portion of those that apply for it if the DREAM act passes though.  It also seems like some protections could be made to prevent these problems (ex: for the concern about it protecting gangsters, institute rules similar to those for financial aid such as if arrested for drugs, they are out of the program, if arrested for gang related activities kick them out, ect)  The thing with this act though is that they have to actively be pursuing a path that is beneficial to our country such as serving in the military or getting a college degree. I have a hard time imagining a large number of active gang members getting college degrees.  Maybe Im having a failure of the imagination here, but it seems like gang life is not very conducive to being successful in school.  Similar for being in the military, though I can come up with plausible sounding conspiracy theories there about cartels sending people to our military to get trained.

Those seem to be the best arguments people have against the Dream act other than it being "AMNESTY!!! OMG!!!"  The only other argument I've seen that holds any water at all is that the undocumented people applying for acceptance into the program will be taking the place of US born people in Universities, then taking jobs, all while getting financial assistance.  Yes, if they graduate college they will compete in the US job market with the rest of us, but you know what?  They will still be at a disadvantage compared to US born with money.  Any aid they may be able to get will not cover much, and they will have to work harder for the same degree as another student who does not have the added stress of worrying about affording rent, food, electricity, ect.  So really the only US born people they will be on equal footing with are those in the same financial bracket as themselves who are eligible to the same financial assistance from the government.  Even so, someone here in the country illegally will have had more obstacles to success than someone born here.  So really if your US born and your worried about getting out-competed for a spot in a university or for a job than an illegal immigrant, I'd say that says more about you than what our policies should be.  Then again maybe Im just too much of a sympathetic liberal, and I have it all wrong on this.  However to those who argue that anyone who is willing to serve in our military, then completes that service honorably, should not be allowed citizenship I just have to say chinga tu.  Really, it's that simple, if they put their life on the line for our country, you dont get to complain about their citizenship status and still look respectable.  (of course your still free to state your opinion, but the rest of us have the right to ignore you on this one)